In a leafy suburb of Frankfurt, a state-of-the-art plant churns out up to 1 million insulin pens every day in French drugmaker Sanofi's drive to keep its no. 2 spot in the $43 billion-a-year diabetes market.
The facility is part of a hub - nicknamed Insulin City - dedicated to research and development, production, and smart technology for diabetes treatments that Sanofi says will help drive its growth as older blockbusters lose patent protection.
"This site represents an investment of more than 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) and clearly shows our dedication to diabetes," Christian Lerche, head of R&D project direction at Sanofi's diabetes unit, told Reuters.